Holy Mysteries
What is absolution?
Absolution is the prayer the priest gives after confession and repentance, asking God to forgive and release the repentant person from sin. The priest does not forgive by private power. He serves the mercy of Christ in the sacramental life of the Church.
If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them.
What It Sounds Like In Practice
After a person confesses, the priest may give counsel, then prays the absolution. The person receives the prayer with repentance and faith, trusting God's mercy rather than personal self-justification.
The prayer belongs to the Church's ministry of reconciliation. The repentant person has confessed to God before the priest, and the priest now asks Christ to pardon, cleanse, and restore. This is why absolution is received with humility and peace rather than as a casual closing sentence.
Forgiveness And Repair
Absolution sends the person back into a repaired life. If a sin has harmed another person, repentance may include apology, returning what was taken, leaving a harmful pattern, or accepting spiritual discipline from the priest. Forgiveness and repair belong together because Christ heals the person, the relationship, and the conscience.
Why It Matters
Absolution shows that forgiveness is personal, ecclesial, and sacramental. The sinner returns to God, but also returns to the Body of Christ. The priest's prayer gives the person confidence to continue in repentance without despair, and to approach Communion under spiritual fatherhood rather than self-direction.
- Sacraments of Repentance and Confession, CopticChurch.net. Ritual-theology explanation of repentance, verbal confession before the priest, and absolution.
- Confession and Absolution, Coptic Orthodox Diocese of the Southern United States Q&A. Pastoral answer on repentance, confession, and receiving absolution.
- Confession to a Priest, Coptic Orthodox Diocese of the Southern United States Q&A. Pastoral answer on confession before God in the presence of the priest.
- Rituals of the Sacraments, Servants Preparation Program, SUSCopts. Servants-prep lesson on the rites of Baptism, Chrismation, Eucharist, Repentance and Confession, Unction, Matrimony, and Priesthood.
- The Seven Sacraments, Servants Preparation Program, SUSCopts. Doctrine lesson explaining the sacraments as visible mysteries through which the faithful receive grace.
Absolution: The priestly prayer of forgiveness and release, prayed by the authority Christ gave His Church for repentance and reconciliation.
Confession: The sacrament of repentance in which a person confesses sins before God in the presence of the priest and receives absolution and guidance.
Holy Communion: The faithful receiving the true Body and Blood of Christ in the Eucharist, after baptismal life, repentance, confession, fasting, reconciliation, and pastoral preparation.